Upon Angel Island
by CrazyRandomGirl
Summary: Angel Island is where it all began for Knuckles and Rouge, but will it be where it all ends? A series of one shots all in the same continuity, about the crucial moments in the lives of the squabbling pair. Follow their relationship from beginning to end; the tension, the love, the drama and the heartache. Knuxouge obviously!
1. Birthday

**Upon Angel Island**

 **Okay guys don't freak out! I'm not abandoning Dealing Hearts here, just bringing you all some cute little Knuxouge oneshots to pass the time. Enjoy, read, review!**

 **Disclaimer- if I suddenly owned Sonic and co. you would all know about it.**

 **Birthday:  
02/02/15**

It was 5am on Angel Island; no sound could be heard except the light snoring of a rugged, red echidna sleeping on the long stone staircase leading up to the shrine. The master emerald, in all its beauty, glowed an electrifying green against the inky blackness of the night. The island was desolate for the most part. Knuckles- the sleeping echidna in question- was the only inhabitant. For hours, days, weeks at a time, he would guard the shrine, keeping the precious gem out of harm's way. Though he would probably hesitate to admit it, the life he lived was a lonely one, but alas- too proud for his own good- he took on the life of solitude without complaint.

The echidna stirred in his sleep. Due to the importance of his task, he always slept lightly, the slightest movement in the vicinity awakening him with a jolt. Suddenly startled, he leaped to his feet, trying to shake off the tiredness and confusion that come along with being woken up. Once he had gathered his bearings, he scanned the area. Something had woken him, that much was clear, but he couldn't be sure of what it was. It wasn't uncommon for his sleep to be disturbed by something as unimportant as a passing animal or even just the rustling of the trees. But it also wasn't uncommon for him to be awoken by thieves attempting to steal his emerald.

In such situations, Knuckles could take a guess at three potential culprits. One was obvious: the notorious Dr Eggman or his henchmen. A gem that held so much raw energy was beyond appealing to the evil genius, it was like bringing a moth to a flame. Eggman wasn't too hard to deal with, especially if he came alone, but fighting a giant robot in the middle of the night wasn't exactly a favourite past time of the echidna's. His second guess would be his friends, attempting to swipe the emerald while he was asleep in order to use it in one of their hare-brained schemes that for whatever reason he hadn't agreed to. Sonic- that blue pest- had taken the emerald too many times for his liking, just so that he could go about saving the world in his _own_ way as per usual. Knuckles detested Sonic for his arrogance, but he remained a close friend none the less.

His third guess was the most frequent threat that he had to deal with, and probably the most intelligible one- Rouge the Bat. A professional jewel thief by trade, Rouge had made it her life's mission to own all of the world's gems. No matter how many times Knuckles had told her that her goal was ridiculous and unrealistic, she still persisted. In ways he admired her for that, admired her optimism and her ability to have complete and utter faith in her own abilities… and in ways she annoyed the hell out of him.

The odd and ultimately frustrating thing about all of this was that, despite her unfavourable intentions, Knuckles didn't at all mind when Rouge paid a visit. In fact, sometimes he rather liked it. Some may say he was crazy, enjoying having a person attempt to steal his most prized possession, but often- after she was caught in the act- she would leave peacefully after a short conversation or perhaps, at worst, a little argument. It was as if she actually came to see _him_ nowadays, not to swipe the master emerald.

No sooner had Knuckles thought this, had he shaken the thought straight from his head. A jewel thief, come to visit the owner of what would otherwise be the centrepiece in her collection? Just for fun? Maybe even because she _liked_ him? _Ridiculous_.

Knuckles darted up the stairs to the master emerald as quickly as he could. He was fast- way faster than anyone gave him credit for because his skills were always overshadowed by Sonic. He still hadn't discovered what had awoken him, but he wasn't going to wait around any longer to find out. He had to be with the emerald, had to make sure no one could approach it without getting through him first. It was his duty.

Without even breaking a sweat, Knuckles reached the emerald in seconds, breathing a sigh of relief that it was so far seemingly unharmed. He walked over to it, basking in its calming light and placed his hand on its smooth surface.

"Hand's off what's mine, Knuckie," came a playful voice from above him. Startled, his head shot upwards, examining the tall stone pillars surrounding the emerald. He tried to ignore the fact that his heart skipped a beat and instead rolled his eyes when he saw her sitting there, perched smugly on the nearest pillar to him with her legs casually crossed as if she weren't 50ft off the ground. He supposed it didn't matter if she could fly. It was Rouge.

"You again," he huffed, "have you not heard of giving up?" She chuckled, the deep, melodic laughter dripping with a mixture of sarcasm and self-assuredness. The sound made Knuckles instantly begin to flare up in anger, her arrogance testing his already thinly worn patience.

"Oh honey, do you think I need to?" she replied as she glided down from her perch, landing in front of him with all of her usual grace. "When have I ever failed?"

"Only… let's see… every time you try to steal from me," he responded, his pride at knowing he was right showing through.

"And maybe," she began cryptically, as she took a few more paces toward him, "that's because I've had such a fun time playing this little game with you over the past few years. Why would I want it to end now? It's just getting started. Believe me, I could swipe that gem any day of the week and you wouldn't see a thing before it's too late." She batted her eyelashes at him in her own, special, frustratingly glorious way before adding in an almost-whisper: "or maybe… maybe I just come to see you, Knucklehead. Ever thought about that? We're friends, right? Why always so paranoid?"

The echidna was dumbfounded, a mixture of anger and utter confusion swirling inside him. There was something else in the mix as well, something he wasn't too sure of but that always seemed to occur when the bat was present. He knew Rouge was a confusing person at the best of times- it was how she was such an effective manipulator- but tonight she was really on her A game.

"Okay," he began; still trying to make sense of what his unwanted companion was getting at. He instinctively raised his voice as he began to retaliate, the anger winning out above the confusion. "Firstly," he growled, "this little 'game' of yours might be fun for _you_ , but this is my _job_ okay?" Despite the fact that he was practically yelling right in her face, the bat remained disturbingly cool and collected, only further frustrating him.

"And secondly," he continued, "we are _not_ friends, because friends don't try to steal from other friends. Got it? If you didn't keep making empty threats about taking off with my emerald, I wouldn't have anything to be so edgy about."

Though Rouge's smug demeanour never faltered, Knuckles could swear he saw just a flicker of hurt flash across her eyes.

Her eyes. He knew they were a clear, crystal blue, but in the dull light and the reflection of the emerald they looked a dark green, almost brown. He never seemed to notice these details on anyone else, but he'd never taken the time to ponder upon why.

"Someone's touchy," she commented, folding her arms and pointedly looking away from him. "And to think, I came all this way just to see you."

"As if," he responded, aggravated by her blatant lie. "When have you ever _once_ come to this island without and ulterior motive?" She took a moment to consider, before finally constructing her answer.

"No, I suppose you're right, Knuckie, I'll give you that one. 1-0 to you: happy?"

"Not until you leave." He was starting to become beyond frustrated now. It was late, he was tired, he didn't want to deal with this. Visits like these were almost worse, he thought, than the ones where Rouge would outright try to steal his emerald. On visits like these, she would talk in circles and change her story again and again. She wouldn't shut up, she would be stubborn and persistent and wear him into the ground. She would bat her eyelashes and gently brush up against him whenever she walked by. She liked to play with him, like she was the cat and he was the mouse, causelessly running in circles, desperate for escape. It was her own form of torture; confusing his delicate emotions, making him feel things he shouldn't have felt.

But at the same time, those whispered words, those gentle touches… they took up a solid 2/3rds of the echidna's social interaction. Just because he didn't know how to respond, just because he didn't understand why it felt like deranged butterflies were running rampant in his stomach, just because he _hated_ her… it didn't mean he didn't enjoy it deep down.

And when she left, he knew he would think about her all night. He'd fight himself over it, screaming to his subconscious that she was no good. It never listened.

"Ouch," she responded, only partly sarcastically. She flicked a loose strand of short, white hair behind her ear and pretended to look suddenly uninterested. If there was one thing Rouge knew how to do, it was how to play people until they saw things her way.

"Oh well," she continued, "I suppose I'll just leave you alone on this special day…"

Hearing her words, Knuckles suddenly became alert. What was today? What had he missed? True, he wasn't the most organised individual; all he usually had to know was that he needed to guard the emerald and that was it. It was easy to lose track of time, easy to let every passing day blur peacefully into one. Before he could respond, Rouge caught on.

"Oh my chaos…" she said, for once appearing genuinely caught off guard. She looked shocked, maybe even a little sad, Knuckles thought, but for what? "You don't even remember your own birthday…"

His Birthday?

He wasn't as shocked as Rouge was that he didn't know. Of course he knew the _date_ of his birthday, he just didn't often notice when that date came around.

"Huh," he responded, very relaxed about the entire situation. "I guess I just lost track of time." He shrugged, but Rouge just couldn't quite shake off the shock and wonder that she'd gained from this revelation.

"You mean no one else has come to visit you?" she asked. She appeared amazed, her eyes and her voice filled with all the same wonder of a child discovering something brand new.

"Nope," he replied simply, "I don't really advertise it."

"A- and you've had no gifts?"

Suddenly Knuckles realised why Rouge had been so caught off guard. It was safe to say that Rouge was a rather… materialistic being. She had a gigantic list of things she wanted for her birthday planned months in advance of the occasion and made sure to hand out a copy to each of her friends. Owning things made her happy. Owning things she hadn't had to buy made her even happier.

"Nope, don't care about that," Knuckles replied. "It's just another day really, and I'm really only a day older than I was yesterday. No big deal."

By now, Rouge had finally managed to gather her bearings, the shock of a person not caring about material possessions finally starting to wear off.

"Well it's a good thing _someone_ remembered," she stated, cockiness returning. He was about to make a smug remark about how he wished it'd been someone other than her, but stopped himself as he was about to do so. The realisation hit him all at once. _Rouge_ had remembered his birthday. His arch rival had remembered when nobody else had.

"How did you _know_?" he asked quietly, his social awkwardness creeping up on him as they approached the topic.

Rouge attempted to maintain her superior attitude, but it faltered under his gaze. Knuckles was so honest, she thought, so trusting and genuinely curious. He was hard to lie to, even when telling the truth meant shattering her entire façade of heartlessness. It was amazing she had kept the way she truly looked at him such a secret.

"You told me," she finally responded, "this time last year… I… I wrote it down so I could surprise you." It was safe to say that the echidna had never seen his counterpart act this way before, so quiet, so bashful. "Problem is, I had jewels to steal and entirely forgot." Ah. That was more like it.

"So wait," Knuckles replied, trying to construe all that was going on. "You came all the way out here to tease me, remind me it was my birthday, attempt to steal my emerald and not even give me anything?" There was that frustration again; the lingering tension that came along with his anger issues. Rouge flared it up more than the average person, but then there was truly nothing average about her.

"Pretty much," she shrugged, "except the emerald stealing part, I figured I'd give you a break today." Knuckles chuckled a little at this, something he was not commonly known to do.

"Wow batgirl, what an honour."

She winked at him before turning to leave, making his stomach do one last somersault until she undoubtedly visited again. Just as she was about to take off, the bat stopped in her tracks.

She spun back around to face the echidna, who wore a look of confusion mixed with curiosity. What did she want _now_.

"Oh, Knuckie," she said, allure dripping from her voice as she strutted over to him. The way she walked with purpose, the way her eyes fluttered as she came closer, froze him to the spot. She wanted something: Rouge only did this when she wanted something.

"I almost forgot," she continued. "Close your eyes."

Knuckles wasn't buying it.

"Yeah, yeah," he growled, "and I suppose while I'm doing that, you fly away, emerald in tow, right?"

"Not exactly," she responded. He gave her a lingering, quizzical look, assessing whether or not to trust her. His violet eyes were odd, she thought; so unique and so strangely beautiful. As they looked her up and down, she became more and more certain of what she wanted to do.

"Just trust me," she pleaded, taking another step towards him, closing any walking distance that was left between them. She rested a hand on his shoulder and felt him physically shudder at her touch. She smirked, all too satisfied by his reaction. Truth was, being this close to him was having a similar effect on her. Goosebumps covered her body and her heart began to pound so heavily that she could hear it clearly in her oversensitive ears. "Close your eyes."

With a deep breath, he finally did, placing all of his trust in a girl he had always considered a threat.

Before she could overthink it, before he could open his eyes, Rouge leaned in, pressing her lips gently to his and closing the distance between them.

Knuckles' eyes shot open at the surprise of the sudden contact, but gently fluttered closed as he noticed that the white bat's were shut tight. He didn't know what came over him in the moment, be it instinct, lust… maybe even something more. Without thinking, he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her even closer to him if that we're even possible, pressing every inch of their bodies against one another. She let out a breathless giggle and wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.

She kissed him skilfully, like a well-practiced art, precise and perfect.

He kissed her passionately, trying his best to contain himself while pouring his all into the kiss. His subconscious wouldn't stop reminding him of how long he had waited for this moment, even if he'd refused to let himself believe it until now.

She wanted to carry on, she wanted him to press her back against one of the tall, cold stone pillars and kiss her and touch her and love her until they'd gotten all the sexual tension that had been building since the day they met out of their systems. She wanted to _show_ him how she felt- actions spoke louder than words after all. But she couldn't. Not today. Their relationship with one another was too complex, too temperamental to commit so suddenly. Rushing such a delicate thing would be futile and ultimately destructive.

The kiss lasted seconds before the two broke apart.

Knuckles was left at a loss for words, gasping for breath and recovering from the passion that had overwhelmed him. Rouge just smiled up at him, the most genuine smile he felt he had ever seen on her. It made her all the more lovely, the master emeralds glow further adding to her dazzling beauty.

Rouge leaned in again, causing the echidna to think she was going back in for another kiss, but he was wrong. Instead she leaned towards his ear.

In the quietest whisper, the bat spoke.

"The emerald wasn't my ulterior motive to come here," she admitted. "…You were."

Without another word to him, Rouge came away, turned around and took to the skies. He watched her every move as she glided up off of the shrine and up towards the heavens. He didn't know how he felt exactly, he was processing. What he did know was that everything about the kiss had been more than he ever dreamed he could feel, more than he knew he was capable of.

And that's just what Rouge did to him. She made him _more_ , she made him _better_ , even if that betterment was found through foiling her own dastardly plans.

Just as Knuckles was about to settle back down to sleep, he heard a shout from somewhere in the distance.

"Happy birthday Knucklehead!" called the smooth, feminine voice he knew all too well. "I'll be back for the emerald tomorrow!"

On the average day, such a taunt would have irritated and frustrated him, but today it only brought a smile to his face as he lead down, resting his back on his precious emerald.

"Oh, I sincerely hope so," he whispered to nobody but himself.

He liked to think that with her superior hearing, his batgirl had heard it too.

* * *

 **Okay guys so that's that!** **Been thinking about expanding this into a larger story if it gets enough positive feedback and support. Let me know if you'd be interested! Until next time!**

 **xox**


	2. Christmas

**Upon Angel Island:**

What's this? A Christmas themed story in JANUARY!? Rest assured humans, I began writing this on Christmas eve then life got in the way big time. But it's long! That's gotta count for something (someone please recognise my innuendo, I'm so desperate for attention since my absence from the internet xD ).

Anyway, I've finally figured out what I'm doing with this story. Due to a decent number of people stating they'd like this continued, I decided to do something a little different since I'm also writing Dealing Hearts at the moment, so I didn't want them to be too similar.  
So instead of a story focusing on a specific event or moment in time, this is gonna be a series of one shots, all in the same continuity- thus referencing the events of previous one shots- each set around a peak event for Knuxouge e.g getting together, first date, engagement etc.

For example, this one jumps forward to Christmas, the same year as the previous chapter. I'm going to go back and put the date and year into the last chapter and also in this one and future ones so you can get a better grip on what I'm doing here.

Also, yes the characters drink in this chapter. I never really set out what ages I intend the characters to be in my stories, but in my mind, I always set them after the events of all the current games so they're all a little older. Assume they are all of- or almost of- drinking age here. So say Sonic's 21, Knuckles 22, Rouge 23 etc.

That's all for now, I won't keep you any longer! Enjoy :)

* * *

 **Christmas Eve  
24/12/2015**

Every year it happened, and every year, Knuckles was equally as reluctant to attend.

It was the eve of December 24th, the annual date of Sonic the Hedgehog's infamous Christmas bash. On this day, every year, the whole gang was invited to get together for an evening of food, drink (and where Sonic was involved, that meant a LOT of drink), gift exchanging and merriment as they rang in the beginning of Christmas together, before all heading home, ready to wake up bright and early on Christmas morning.

Not being a fan of either giving or receiving gifts, the echidna often found himself feeling left out of the festivities, and was always quick to make an excuse to get him out of attending.

"I can't leave the master emerald," he'd told his blue frenemy on the phone, after ignoring his sixteen previous calls. "A threat is coming, I can feel it," he lied. In truth, the master emerald was rarely safer than it was at this time of year; what with Eggman geeking out over the holidays like the child he truly was and Rouge too pre-occupied with making sure everyone bought her exactly what she wanted.

"Come on buddy, you know I always get ya here in the end!" Sonic chirped, far too optimistic for Knuckles' liking.

"We'll see," he'd grumbled in response before hanging up, absolutely adamant that this year would be the year that he stuck to his guns and didn't attend.

It wasn't.

Why he always ended up going, he wasn't entirely sure. Maybe it was because he had certainly abandoned his guardian post at far more dangerous times. Perhaps, deep down, he didn't want to disappoint Sonic- or any of his friends for that matter.  
This year something was different. This year, something had happened, something in the form of a late night birthday kiss on the steps of the shrine with an ivory bat he'd sworn he hated. And she was always at these gatherings, every year, without fail. Just like him.

As the echidna sat on Sonic's couch, already becoming mildly irritated with the blaring Christmas music, he scanned the room. Everyone was smiling, giggling away and hugging and thanking each other for the brightly wrapped Christmas presents they had been given. Some opened them right away, some stashed them to unwrap the following day, but everyone seemed equally as grateful. Like every year, the echidna had made sure to pre-warn his friends that buying him anything would be an unwelcome decision, and as always, they obliged.

Aside from the Christmas cheer, everybody was going about their usual antics. Tails and Cream were chatting away and playing happily with some dolls Cream had just received. With how quickly they'd been forced to grow up, and how young they'd had to learn to fight, it was easy to forget that the two of them really were only children. Just a few feet away from the couch where Knuckles sat, Amy was trying her best to con Sonic into kissing her beneath the mistletoe. A deep blush spread across the blue hedgehog's cheeks, and his red echidna friend chuckled quietly to himself. He had always suspected Sonic might actually return Amy's feelings, and little gestures like that were proof.

Everyone seemed to be having a fantastic time: the atmosphere was warm and inviting and conversation- as well as champagne- was flowing. But despite his best efforts, Knuckles couldn't get one certain person out of his mind: Rouge.

He'd hoped deeply for the opposite, but since his birthday, since that _kiss_ , her visits to the shrine had become less frequent, and less lengthily. Being socially oblivious in many ways, he wasn't sure if the changing nature of her visits had been his own fault. Was she playing some sort of game that would have been blatantly obvious to anyone besides him?

 _Its Rouge,_ he thought, _of course she's playing games, she always is._

But what did she _want_? And, speaking of the bat, why wasn't she at the party yet? Knuckles knew she liked to be fashionably late, but this was getting ridiculous. It was 9:30pm.

Did she want him to chase her? To fight for her? To make the first move? Or, perhaps, had she changed her mind and wanted to be left alone?

Deep in thought, but not quite deep enough to ignore his surroundings entirely, the echidna realised that his glass was empty. Seeing nothing better to do for the time being, he reluctantly dragged his body from its comfortable spot and went to the kitchen to get a refill.

Before he even had a chance to enter the room, something- or rather someone- had caught his attention. Rouge was standing by the island counter at the far end of the room, helping herself to a drink. She wore a long black coat, still scattered with flurries of snow, indicating that she'd not long arrived. Knuckles' heart jumped a little as he first laid eyes on her, a reaction that was becoming all too common of late. How much his feelings for the bat had transitioned over the years never failed to astound him. There was only a fine line between hate and love, he supposed.

As he watched her silently, still stuck to his spot, hiding in the doorway, she took off her coat revealing a short, black, strappy dress. Knuckles had to make a genuine effort to not let his jaw drop. It wasn't uncommon for Rouge to dress this way, but the dress, combined with his ever growing feelings was just too much. In what was hopefully the least creepy way possible, he felt like he could have just gazed at her all night. That was of course, until someone far more unwelcome stepped onto the scene.

Out of pure distraction, Knuckles hadn't noticed him before now, but another bat was standing near her. He was grey, with wings of a slightly darker hue, tinged with purple as Rouge's were. He was tall, toned; what Knuckles supposed would be considered handsome. He took Rouge's coat politely and hung it up for her, before picking up his own glass and raising it to hers in a toast. The way they looked at each other, the way she smiled shyly and giggled as their glasses clinked… something didn't seem right. And how come Knuckles had never met him before?

Jealousy washed over the echidna… had Rouge brought…a date? Was this why she hadn't been showing up to see him as much? Had her recent visits truly been strictly business? The bat really knew how to pick her times.

"Lurking, I see," came a deep, amused voice from behind him, "always thought that was more my thing." Knuckles spun around to see Shadow leaning against the wall only a few feet behind him, a wry smirk plastered across his face. They were now both standing out of view of the kitchen door.

"What are you doing here?" the echidna asked, genuinely confused. His confusion was expected; the only person less likely to attend Sonic's parties than him, was the ebony hedgehog. In fact- Shadow had only been twice in all the years that this tradition had gone on, and he didn't even bother making excuses.

"I'm their ride," he explained, gesturing towards the kitchen where the bat's remained. His tone of amusement never shifted. "It's never a good idea to drink and fly, and alcohol doesn't affect me like it does you… mortals."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. Shadow was conceited, he knew that all too well, but today he was especially infuriating. All was silent for a moment, until Shadow spoke up again.

"So… any particular reason you're standing in the doorway oogling my team mate like a creeper?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

Knuckles stuttered and blushed, not only embarrassed about being caught, but also frustrated that it'd been by Shadow of all people.

"I was not oogling," he defended, "I was just… going to say hi."

"And it took you three whole minutes of standing there to work up the courage?" Shadow smirked.

Knuckles was cornered here, even he (with his utter lack of social skills) could recognise that. Instead of digging deeper, he settled on a subject change.

"So, who's the other bat?" he asked, trying his best to sound as casual as possible. Judging by Shadow's expression, he gathered he was actually being pretty transparent.

"That's Nick," Shadow replied, disinterestedly. "I only just made his acquaintance today, seems a decent guy. He's essentially the male version of Rouge, despite his better manners… which is both good and bad I guess. Rouge is great and all but I'm not sure I really want two of her hanging about…"

That, at least, they could both agree on.

"Oh…" Knuckles replied, seeming clearly disheartened. "So are they… you know…"

"Hooking up?" chuckled Shadow. He didn't need to wait for a reply to know his assumption was right. "Why don't you just go and ask her yourself?"

Before Knuckles could even argue, Shadow pushed him through the kitchen doorway with incredible strength and ease, knocking him several feet forward and sending him crashing to the ground. The two bats immediately halted their conversation as they caught sight on the echidna sprawled out on the floor before them. Without another sound, Shadow smirked down at Knuckles from the doorway before dashing away, removing himself from the situation and rendering himself blameless for those who hadn't seen.

Blushing profusely, but also partially going red (well… redder) from anger, Knuckles scrambled to his feet.

"Um… hello?" Rouge began, looking at the man on the floor before her with utter confusion. She began to let out a giggle but stifled it when she saw just how enraged he was. That was unlike her, he thought. Usually she'd do anything to jump into an argument just for the fun of it. She was probably just trying to be on her best behaviour in front of _Nick_.

"I'm gonna kill him…" Knuckles grumbled, glaring at the doorway from which he had just been flung. Rouge's – and also Nick's- confusion only increased further. Of course, Shadow was nowhere to be seen.

"Who're you mad at?" Rouge asked, strutting confidently over to the doorway to investigate whom he might be referring to. "Yourself? For being stupid enough to trip over your own feet?" There was a mischievous glint in her eyes as she spoke, one that suggested she wasn't actually trying to hurt his feelings, but rather agitate him even further. That was more like her. Perhaps his surprise entrance had just caught her off-guard.

"Well hello to you too batgirl," said the echidna, finally pulling himself together and standing up. He briefly looked away from Rouge to her companion. He looked somewhat uncomfortable, as if Knuckles had walked in, or rather been thrown in, at an inconvenient time. _Good_ , he thought.

"Nice to see you," she responded, still looking as shifty as ever. She wrapped her arm around the waist of the bat beside her and smiled up at him. "I'm sorry you two haven't been properly introduced. Knuckles, this is Nick. Nick- Knuckles."

Throughout the entire speech, Rouge barely took her eyes off of the guy. Knuckles didn't even need to ask, he didn't need (or want) to be told. There was something between them. It was clear as day.

Nick broke away from Rouge's embrace and extended a hand to Knuckles, intending for him to shake it.

"Pleasure to meet you," he said pleasantly, faint hints of a British accent tinting his voice. _Oh great_ , Knuckles thought, _don't girls_ _ **love**_ _accents_?

Despite his ever increasing distaste for the man, Knuckles firmly shook his hand.

"Good to meet you too," he uttered, trying to seem as friendly as possible but significantly failing. Rouge could tell. Knuckles knew she knew from the way she raised her eyebrows at him, her trademark evil smirk now reaching from ear to ear.

She was _infuriating_.

Knuckles decided he had to confront her. He wasn't going to let her treat him like this and get away with it. He paused for a moment to think of a plan, but couldn't come up with anything even half way convincing.

"Rouge and I go way back," he began, talking directly to Nick. "We're old friends, but I haven't seen much of her recently."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear. That's probably down to me, I'm afraid. Since I moved here she's been showing me the ropes," Nick replied. He was still very pleasant, as if entirely unaware of the echidnas growing rage.

"How nice of her," Knuckles said, trying to hide the sarcasm threatening to leak into his voice. By this point, Rouge seemed even more amused than before. He had to get her alone _right now_. "But, if you don't mind, we really need a catch up. It's been too long."

With that, he reached out and grabbed Rouge's arm, urging her to go with him.

"We'll only be a minute," she assured Nick- who looked more baffled than upset at the situation- as she let Knuckles lead her away. They went out of the kitchen door, not bothering to grab coats, and out into the cold night air. They stood out on Sonic's grand wooden terrace, above which was an even grander wooden balcony- complete with hot tub- providing them a limited amount of shelter from the elements.

* * *

As soon as Knuckles shut the door behind them, Rouge spoke up.

"Any chance you're gonna tell me what all that was about?" she questioned, though her tone told him she already knew the answer.

"Oh, I dunno," Knuckles retorted, finally letting his sarcasm flow free. "Maybe, I'm just mad because your _idiot_ of a best friend just _threw me_ onto the kitchen floor." Rouge chuckled a little at this, but he continued on anyway.

"Maybe, I don't appreciate how you've barely spoken to me in _months_ , and when you have, you never mentioned this Nick guy, not once. You're _avoiding_ me. It's obvious. Why?"

Rouge let out giggle and moved a step closer to him. "Oh, Knuckie," she began, her tone an infuriating mixture of seductive and patronising. "I'm not avoiding you. I've just been busy; preoccupied. And so what if I never mentioned Nick? Last I checked I don't have to tell you every time I'm meeting up with someone…"

Knuckles' didn't know quite what to make of her words. She'd kissed him, to him it'd meant so much, and now she thought she could move on without even a warning. Why wasn't he good enough? Why did he mean so little to her? More importantly, how had he let himself fall for someone he didn't trust? He should've known this would happen.

"You know what," he began, his voice wavering slightly due to his buzzing mix of emotions. "I actually kind of did expect you to let me know about something like that. At least after you… did what you did-"

"- kissed you?" Rouge cut in. Knuckles nodded, closing his eyes, to which Rouge just chuckled. "You can say it you know, it's not a dirty word…"

"Fine," he quickly retorted, "when you _kissed me_ , I didn't expect you to vanish off the face of the earth. I wondered what game you were playing with me this time, I mean, do you honestly think I get kissed very often?"

"Well I don't see why not," she replied, "you're certifiably gorgeous, so…"

"Rouge, can you be genuinely serious for just five minutes?" Knuckles pleaded, though he couldn't help a blush creeping across his face as she complimented him. He'd never had anyone call him _gorgeous_ before, especially not somebody as astounding as Rouge.

"Go on," she said, seeming more genuine than she had throughout the entire conversation, though granted, only marginally.

"I don't get kissed a lot. I barely get kissed at all, hell I don't even really see other people at all except for missions and special occasions. Well…apart from you, when you come to the shrine." He sighed, looking away from her. He knew he needed to let his feelings out, but he just couldn't look her in the eyes as he did it.

"That kiss meant a lot to me," he admitted. "It gets pretty lonely out there in the middle of nowhere; I'd be lying if I said I didn't look forward to your visits. After that night, I looked forward to them even more… so why did they stop?" Gathering his courage, he looked up at her. He had expected to be met with a scathing, smug expression, but was surprised to instead see her wearing one of concern, intrigue… he wasn't really sure, but it looked like a good sign.

"You must've seen me maybe three times since," he continued, accusingly, "I wondered what I did wrong; all these years we've fought like crazy, we've said some awful things and we've always gone back to each other anyway. And now I find out you're dating someone…"

Just as he thought he might finally be getting through to her sensitive side, Rouge's serious demeanour suddenly faltered and she burst into a fit of giggles. Knuckles was furious- he should've known he couldn't trust her with his feelings. He should've _known_ she wouldn't care.

"Great…" he said, venom dripping from his voice as he began to turn away to go back inside. He was done with her games, he decided. He was ready to give up.

Just as he was about to reach for the door handle, he felt a gloved hand on his upper arm. He turned his head to see Rouge latched onto him, more composed now.

"Get off me batgirl, I'm not in the mood," he spat.

"Oh Knuckie, calm your temper," she said, tugging harder on his arm. He still refused to fully turn around.

"Why, so you can laugh some more about my pathetic emotions?" he asked sarcastically. Rouge rolled her eyes, and finally managed to turn his body to face hers. She placed one hand on each of his shoulders, and looked straight into his eyes when she spoke.

"I'm not dating anyone," she said, very clearly. She seemed more serious and direct than Knuckles had ever seen her before. He didn't understand it… surely she was lying?

"But… Nick?" he asked, his mind clouded with confusion, "you two just seemed so… together." Rouge began to laugh again, this time a little more softly, more sympathetically.

"See this is what I love the most about you," she replied, without a hint of malice, "you're so naïve, you take everything at face value and you don't ever question your first thought. It's a good trait honey, it makes you trusting." She giggled again, while Knuckles still stood there looking completely bewildered.

"Nick is my cousin," she finished, amused by the echidnas almost impossibly wide eyes.

"W-what?"

"He's my cousin," she repeated, "we're related. We're absolutely not dating."

"But… the way you were standing so close together, the way you looked at each other…" he replied, still unable to accept just how wrong he had been. He felt like an idiot.

"I love him to pieces," she explained, "he's an amazing guy. We were super close as kids but my aunt and uncle carted him off to England when he was ten, and he only got back recently. He's been trying to get on his feet, and I've been helping him out: that's why you've not seen much of me." Her tone suddenly shifted to something more serious. "Did you really think I'd mess with you like that?"

Knuckles shrugged, surprised by how hurt she seemed at the thought. "Well you've messed with me plenty of times before," he reminded her, "this wouldn't exactly be new."

"I guess," she replied, "I just thought I made my feelings pretty clear on your birthday…"

"Well, you didn't," Knuckles scoffed, "if I remember correctly, up until the kiss it was just the usual wind ups and mind games."

"Well, I don't remember it that way…"

"Well it was that way, Rouge. You know, sometimes I think you fuck with me without even realising you're doing it. It's just become subconscious…" Knuckles trailed off momentarily as something suddenly occurred to him.

"Like _tonight_!" he continued, anger rising once again. "If Nick's just your cousin, why didn't you introduce him as that? Why didn't you mention it in the kitchen when you could _see_ how mad I was getting? Come to think of it- why didn't _Shadow_ mention it? I'm guessing you two planned the whole thing just to screw with my head?"

"Okay, okay," Rouge began, also becoming agitated, "firstly- just for the record- all that time you were complaining about not seeing me, did you not once thing to come and visit _me_ for a change?"

"I was guarding the Master Emerald!" Knuckles yelled in response.

"Oh yeah? You're not guarding it now are you? You could've come to see me if you'd really wanted…"

For once, Knuckles didn't have a counter argument.

"Thought so," said Rouge, a smug smile showing she was pleased with her little victory. "Anyway," she continued, "Shadow had nothing to do with anything, if he tried to wind you up that was of his own accord, but bless him, he definitely had the same intentions as me."

"And what exactly _were_ your intentions?" pressed Knuckles.

"To casually leave out the fact that Nick and I were related and study your reaction," Rouge replied, matter-of-factly.

"Translation: to mess me about and make me jealous," the echidna retorted. Rouge was beginning to become frustrated with him now, he could tell, but he just didn't care. As far as he was concerned, she deserved it.

"Well yes, but not without reason!" the bat argued. "You think you were the only one left guessing what the other person thought after that kiss?! I was going out of my mind." Knuckles was a little taken aback by this. He'd never thought of Rouge as having doubts before. She always seemed so confident, so fierce. He'd thought there was nothing on this earth that could shake her, especially not _him_.

"Go on…" said Knuckles, inquisitively.

"I delayed my next visit in case I got there to discover you didn't want me in that way," she continued. "I've never feared rejection in all my life, but with you I feel like I'll never be good enough. Maybe that's why I play games, why I can't be direct with you, I don't know. What I do know, is that you're absolutely infuriating but there's no one else I'd rather be stood in sub-zero temperatures with, arguing outside of our friend's Christmas party."

They both chuckled a little at this, the tension and anger dissolving into the cold, still air around them. For a while, neither of them said anything. Once one another's raised voices stopped ringing in their ears, they could hear the sounds of the party starting to get wild inside the house. Chanting of ' **chug, chug, chug** ' followed by Sonic spluttering and cheering echoed around them, causing them both to laugh even more.

"We're such idiots," said Knuckles wrapping his arms around himself as he finally took note of just how freezing he was.

"I guess," said Rouge, "certainly sounds like they're having more fun in there. You've gotta admit we can be drama queens."

"I think you mean _you_ can be a drama queen…" Knuckles responded, which only earned him a warning glare from Rouge. He quickly thought better about starting another argument. "I mean, I can be even worse than that," he added, diffusing the situation immediately.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry I messed with you tonight… and all those other times," said Rouge, quietly, almost not wanting her apology to be heard. Knuckles supposed she was still too proud, but that was okay. That was just how he liked her. "I'll try to work on it," Rouge concluded.

"I'm sorry too," Knuckles replied, "for overthinking, for getting mad…"

"it's alright," giggled Rouge, "I'm used to it, _we're_ used to it. We can handle each other."

"Just about," Knuckles chuckled in response.

For a moment, all was silent again, and both of them looked around somewhat aimlessly, knowing that they had said all they could say. Rouge was just about to suggest they head back inside, when something above their heads caught her eye. She pointed upwards and spoke out loud to nobody in particular.

"Mistletoe…" she commented.

"Yeah, the house is riddled with it," Knuckles replied, "part of me thinks Amy put it all up in some sort of cliché master plan to get off with Sonic."

"Quite possibly," Rouge smiled. She looked down at her shoes, and then back up at Knuckles, taking a moment to be certain of what she wanted to say. "It doesn't mean other people can't make use of it though…"

"Well obviously- ohhhhh…." said Knuckles, the realisation hitting him just slightly too late. "You… want _us_ to kiss. Right now?"

"Exactly," Rouge replied, giggling at how slow he could be sometimes. "You cool with that Knuckie?"

Seeing her confidence, and now knowing how hard she had to fight for that when she was around him, Knuckles gathered up his own courage.

"Absolutely," he said, wasting no more time before pulling her towards him and reuniting their lips.

She was exactly how he remembered her, though just a little better this time. Perhaps it was how warm she was against the frosty air, or maybe it was just because this time, he actually knew how she felt. She kissed him back without hesitation, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer to her. Knuckles smiled into the kiss, unable to contain his happiness to finally have his batgirl back in his arms, after months upon months of thinking about her, wondering when he would next get the opportunity to hold her.

He gently moved her backwards so that she was leaning up against the house, as he pressed himself even closer to her. At first she kissed him back even harder, jumping up and wrapping her legs around his waist. He was surprised when she suddenly broke away, let out a giggle and jumped back down.

"What the-"

"Well we're not under the mistletoe anymore," she explained, gesturing to the blank space above their heads.

"So… that's the only reason you kissed me?!" Knuckles asked, anger rising once again. However, he soon cooled off when he noticed the girl in front of him shaking her head in amusement. "And… you're messing with me again," he concluded.

"Not messing, darling, _teasing_ , you'll come to learn that there's a distinctive difference," Rouge replied, her voice dripping with seductive melodies.

"Oh yeah?" replied Knuckles, catching on quickly and finding himself playing along. "And does that suggest you intend to do this again?"

"Absolutely," she replied, before pulling him down towards her into another kiss, mimicking his actions from earlier. The kiss was just as deep and passionate as the last, and they once again found themselves leaning against the wall, Rouge's legs around Knuckles' waist as they became lost in each other's every movement.

When they finally came apart, each of them was smiling uncontrollably. Though she would've denied it until the ends of the earth, Knuckles could've sworn he saw a blush spread across the bat's cheeks.

"To be continued," announced Rouge, straightening herself out. "We should get back to the party, there's a high chance Sonic's already passed out somewhere.

"True," Knuckles agreed, placing one last kiss on her lips. As they turned to leave, the echidna had one more burning question to ask.

"Rouge," he asked, tugging her back away from the door.

"Yeah?" she responded.

"Where does this leave _us_ exactly? I want to be clear this time."

Rouge smiled mischievously. "My my, so full of questions… here's an idea. How about, we keep meeting up and just… see where this goes?"

To her relief, Knuckles agreed.

"Sounds good to me," he replied, before following her back into Sonic's house.

* * *

The place was in quite a different state to when they had left, now over half an hour ago. Nick was no longer in the kitchen, and the neatly arranged food and drinks on the counter were splayed out in all directions. There also a number of spillages on the floor. Knuckles and Rouge looked at each other in disbelief at how quickly things had gotten out of control, and made their way into the living room.

When they entered, it was clear that the younger ones had gone home or gone to bed. The champagne had likely run out because they all seemed to have settled for beer, and lots of it. Vector and Espio were forcing Silver to drink pint after pint and laughing and he spluttered. Blaze was in the middle of the room doing some very out of character drunk dance moves to the blaring Christmas music that was playing. Perhaps strangest of all, was that Sonic himself was missing… and so was Amy.

"The faker and his little girlfriend are upstairs," came a cynical voice from the corner of the room. In all the chaos, neither Knuckles nor Rouge had noticed Shadow sitting there.

"Oh god, _really_!?" Rouge asked in disbelief, walking over to join her friend and perching on the arm of his chair. Knuckles hung back, still unhappy with Shadow from earlier.

"It's not what you think," Shadow chuckled, "Amy wasn't drinking, and Sonic started throwing up. She's taking care of him."

"And suddenly everything makes more sense," Rouge reasoned. "Are you leaving soon?" She knew Shadow never stayed at these things too late, especially when the other remaining attendees started to get out of hand.

"Probably, want a lift?" he offered. He lowered his voice so as to be unheard by Knuckles and added, "or are you gonna stay here with loverboy?" He didn't need to gesture towards the echidna for her to know exactly what he was talking about.

"How do you know anything happened?" she asked, not looking embarrassed but just intrigued. Rouge was never embarrassed of her romantic encounters; Shadow knew that all too well.

"Oh, we all saw," he explained calmly. "You are aware you can see the deck from the living room window?" Rouge looked at him inquisitively before dashing over to the other side of the room to have a look. Sure enough, right in front of her was the exact spot where she and Knuckles had argued, kissed, made out…  
She sighed happily at the thought. Finally, she had gotten some answers from him. Finally she knew he had feelings for her.

"Rouge, we're leaving," called Shadow, Nick now standing beside him having just emerged from the bathroom. Rouge sauntered over to join them, but not before making one last stop with her 'loverboy'.

"Goodbye Knuckie," she said, seductively trailing a finger along his chest as she walked. "See you soon… and Merry Christmas."

With a wink she walked away to join Shadow and Nick, and the three of them had gone in a matter of seconds.

Knuckles stood there in the middle of the chaos of the party, somehow feeling completely alone in a room full of people now that Rouge was no longer by his side. Having her close to him once again, only made him want her even more. He feared he was becoming addicted, not only to her beauty, not only to her touch, but to her brilliant, scheming mind as well. She was like a drug to him.

She might play a lot of games, she might create a lot of mysteries, but on that night, Knuckles decided that she was worth the effort of playing and solving every single one.

* * *

 **Love it? Hate it? Let me know! Much love and see you soon! xo**


End file.
